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| Photographed with a Hasselblad Lunar & Vario-Tessar T 16-70mm f/4 |
The HKS speedloaders for these things border on unobtainium. Back when I was working at a gun shop in Tennessee I ordered a few from one of our regular wholesalers, who was probably delighted to see them go. Nowadays they fetch big bucks on eBay, apparently.
It has numerous interesting mechanical features that differentiate it from your typical K-frame, and Kevin McPherson at RevolverGuy has a lavishly illustrated post detailing all the little changes required to make this 9mm revolver run...and run without moon clips, at that.
The relative size of the cartridges tends to make folks associate 9x19mm with .38 Special, but its 35,000psi maximum SAAMI pressure (38.5k in +P form) puts it a lot closer to the .357 Magnum than it does the old low-pressure .38 Spl. Further, a lot more work has gone into 9mm projectile engineering over the last thirty years than either .38 or .357, at least for defensive use.
Of course, there are a lot more practical ways to carry a 9mm round for defense than holstering up a scarce and increasingly valuable Smith...but I could if I wanted to!
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